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WAR 

INFORMATION 

SERIES 

No.  1 

^ 

June.  1917 

THE  WAR  MESSAGE 
2nd  FACTS  BEHIND  IT 


ANNOTATED  TEXT  OF 
PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 
MESSAGE,APRIL2,  1917 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLIC  INFORMATION 

(Established  by  order  of  the  President  April  4,  1917.) 

Distributed  free  except  that  in  the  case  of  No.  2  and  No.  3  of 
the  Red,  White,  and  Blue  Series,  the  subscriber  should  for- 
ward 15  cents  each  to  cover  the  cost  of  printing. 

I.    Red,  White,  and  Blue  Series: 

No.  1.  How  the  War  came  to  America  (English,  German, 
Polish,  Bohemian,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  Swedish). 

No.  2.  National  Service  Handbook  (primarily  for  libraries, 
schools,  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s,  clubs,  fraternal  organiza- 
tions, etc.,  as  a  guide  and  reference  work  on  all 
forms  of  war  activity — civil,  charitable,  and  mili- 
tary). 

No.  3.  The  Battle  Line  of  Democracy.  Prose  and  Poetry  of 
the  Great  War. 

No.  4.- The  President's  Flag  Day  Speech  with  Evidence  of 
Germany's  Plans. 

No.  5.  Conquest  and  Kultur,  the  Germans'  Aims  in  Their  Own 
Words,  by  Wallace  Notestein  and  Elmer  E.  Stoll. 
Other  issues  in  preparation. 


n.    War  Information  Series: 

No.  101.  The  War  ]Message  and  Facts  Behind  It. 

No.  102.  The  Nation  in  Arms,  by  Secretaries  Lane  and  Baker. 

No.  103.  The  Government  of  Germany,  by  Prof.  Charles  D. 

Hazen. 
No.  104.  The  Great  War:   from  Spectator  to  Participant. 
No.  105.  A  War  of  Self- Defense,  by  Secretary  Lansing  and 

Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor  Louis  F.  Post. 
No.  108.  American  Loyalty  by  Citizens  of  German  Descent. 
No.  107.  Amerikanische  Biirgertreue,  a  translation  of  No.  6. 
No.  108.  American  Interest  in  Popular  Government  Abroad, 

by  Prof.  E.  B.  Greene. 
No.  109.  Home  Reading  Course  for  Citizen  Soldiers. 
No.  110.  First  Session  of  the  War  Congress,  by  Charles  Merz. 

Other  issues  will  shortly  appear. 


m.    Official  Bulletin: 

Accurate  daily  statement  of  what  all  agencies  of  govern- 
ment are  doing  in  war  times.  Sent  free  to  newspapers 
and  postmasters  (to  be  put  on  bulletin  boards).  Sub- 
scription price,  $5  per  year. 


Address  requests  and  orders  to 

COMMITTEE  ON  PUBLIC  INFORMATION, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


SRLF 
YRL 


I 


FOREWORD. 

THE  ' ' War  Message ' '  of  President  Wilson,  delivered  before  Congress  on  April  2d, 
1917,  voices  the  best  ideals  and  aspirations  of  the  American  people.  It  seta 
forth  in  language  of  dignity  and  moderation,  but  with  unmistakable  indignation  and 
emphasis,  the  grievous  wrongs  which  have  made  the  United  States  take  up  arms 
against  Germany.  It  makes  very  plain,  even  to  the  hitherto  unconvinced,  why  at 
the  present  general  crisis  it  is  the  duty  of  all  good  Americans  to  enter  this  war,  ' '  that 
the  world  may  be  made  safe  for  democracy." 

In  other  words,  Mr.  Wilson's  message  is  the  best  possible  preparation  for  all  loyal 
Americans  who  are  studying  the  causes  and  justification  for  the  present  war,  and  who 
are  trying  to  discover  the  proper  mental  attitude  they  themselves  should  take  toward 
the  personal  part  which  they  may  be  called  to  play  in  the  struggle. 

Nevertheless,  although  the  President  was  speaking  in  general  to  all  good  Ameri- 
cans, he  was  addressing,  for  the  moment,  Congress  in  particular.  Now  men  at  Wash- 
ington, devoting  all  their  time  to  public  affairs,  and  most  of  them  favored  by  long 
residence  there  and  by  special  opportunities  for  information,  did  not  need  to  be  told 
of  the  many  things  which  were  not  so  obvious  to  even  very  intelligent  citizens  at 
home — at  least  unless  the  latter  were  willing  to  spend  considerable  time  in  various 
forms  of  investigation.  Consequently  Mr.  Wilson  speaks  of  a  good  many  matters 
that  need  amplifying  details  if  they  are  to  be  entirely  clear,  and  he  draws  a  number 
of  inferences,  very  sound  indeed,  but  again  sometimes  not  self-explanatory  to  busy 
men  and  women.  Also,  here  and  there,  he  contrasts  the  American  and  Prussian 
political  philosophy  and  methods  of  doing  things  in  a  way  that  would  become  even 
more  convincing  if  he  had  been  allowed  time  to  enter  into  specific  details.  Solemn 
official  promises  made  only  to  be  broken,  conspiracies  to  burn  and  blow  up  American 
industries,  to  hamper  our  manufactures  and  cripple  our  Government  by  strikes  and 
riots,  spies  in  every  center  of  political  and  industrial  activity,  plans  made  on  Ameri- 
can soil  and  financed  by  German  funds  to  dynamite  canals,  bridges,  and  munition 
factories  in  Canada,  invitations  to  Mexico  in  times  of  peace  to  join  with  Germany 
in  dismembering  our  Union,  have  led  people  and  President  alike  to  see  submarine 
warfare  as  but  a  more  flagrant  expression  of  a  German  state  policy  running  aonuek 
in  absolute  disregard  of  every  sense  of  national  and  international  morals  and  decency 
and  callous  to  the  claims  of  common  humanity. 

A  military  autocracy  astride  the  ruins  of  Europe  and  dominant  on  the  seas  by 
virtue  of  an  arm  that  both  serves  and  reveals  its  ambitions  and  irresponsibility  has 
forced  America  to  accept  its  challenge.  A  new  Monroe  Doctrine  must  be  defended 
on  the  pathways  of  the  seas  and  in  the  fields  of  Flanders  if  the  Western  World  is  to 
be  preserved  as  the  citadel  of  a  free-developing,  forward-looking  democracy. 

This  annotated  copy  of  the  President 's  message  has  been  prepared  in  the  hope  that 
it  may  make  clearer  the  spirit  and  the  facts  back  of  a  decision  so  momentous. 

Many  of  the  facts  are  very  familiar  to  most  Anierieans,  but  the  effort  has  been  to 
bring  together  in  one  place  the  chief  lines  of  evidence  which  made  Mr.  Wilson  say  that 
he  felt  it  his  duty  to  urge  Congress  to  declare  that  ' '  the  recent  course  of  the  German 
Government  to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than  war  against  the  United  States. ' '  Very 
many  of  the  documents  quoted  in  these  notes  have  the  highest  official  validity,  and 
almost  none  of  the  facts  mentioned  are  capable  of  dispute  by  any  fair-minded  person, 

5340°— 17  3 


Taken  all  in  all,  these  facts,  supporting  the  message,  and  many  more  that  of  course 
could  be  added,  constitute  soniPthing  like  ' '  the  case  for  America  against  Germany, ' ' 
and  Americans  after  examining  this  case  may  rest  well  assured  that  their  cause  will 
be  justified  by  the  calm,  impartial  verdict  of  later-day  history. 

The  plan  and  much  of  the  work  are  due  to  Prof.  William  Stearns  Davis,  of  the 
history  department  of  the  University  of  Minnesota.  lie  was  very  materially  assisted 
by  his  colleagues.  Prof.  C.  D.  Allin  and  Dr.  Wm.  Anderson.  Whether  this  evidence 
is  valid  can  be  tested  by  anybody  with  access  to  a  good  public  library,  for  no  secret 
documents  have  been  used.  The  annotations  represent  a  wholly  volunteer  service 
on  the  part  of  competent  and  patriotic  scholars. 

The  Committee  on  Public  Information  has  had  the  assistance  of  the  National  Board 
for  Historical  Service  in  editing  the  manuscript. 

The  Committee  believes  that  pending  the  appearance  of  a  more  elaborate  and  official 
Government  statement,  the  publication  of  this  annotated  copy  of  the  President 's 
address  will  serve  a  real  national  purpose. 

Copies  of  this  document  and  of  other  publications  may  be  had  free  on  request. 
For  the  Committee  on  Public  Information. 

Guy  Stanton  Ford, 
Director  of  the  Division  on  Civic  and  Edxicational  Cooperation. 


THE  WAR   MESSAGE   AND   FACTS   BEHIND   IT. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Congress  : 

1  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session 
because  there  are  serious,  very  serious,  choices  of  policy  ^  to 
be  made,  and  made  immediately,  which  it  is  neither  right 
nor  constitutionally  permissible  -  that  I  should  assume  the 
responsibility  of  making. 

1  There  had  been  only  two  other  periods  in  the  history  of  the  country  equally  seri- 
ous— 1776  and  1861.  Nobody  can  pretend  that  there  have  been  any  other  crises  in 
American  history  (barring  the  Revolution  and  the  Civil  War)  when  so  much  that  citi- 
zens of  this  country  count  dear  has  been  at  stake.  The  War  of  1812,  the  Mexican  and 
Spanish  Wars,  seem  as  child  's  play  beside  the  present  exigency.  Now,  as  this  message  ' 
makes  clear,  the  very  liberties  of  the  world  and  the  possibilities  of  peaceful  democracies 
are  at  stake.  If  Germany  should  win  this  war,  and  thus  become  supreme  on  land  and 
sea,  the  very  existence  of  free  democracies  would  be  imperiled. 

2  President  Wilson  had  the  sworn  duty  to  lay  the  facts  before  Congress  and  recom- 
mend to  it  the  needful  action.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  prescribes  his 
duties  in  such  emergencies. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Constitution  lays  this  duty  and  power  of  declaring  war 
directly  upon  Congress,  and  that  it  can  not  be  evaded  by  Congressmen  by  any  refer- 
endum to  the  voters,  for  which  not  the  slightest  constitutional  provision  is  made. 

Congress  performed  this  duty  by  voting  on  the  war  question  as  requested.  The 
vote  of  the  Senate  was  82  to  6  for  war;  of  the  House  373  to  50.  Such  comparative 
unanimity  upon  so  momentous  a  question  is  almost  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  free 
nations. 

On  the  3d  of  February  last  I  officially  laid  before  you  the 
extraordinary  announcement  of  tlte  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment, that  on  and  after  the  1st  day  of  February  it  was  its 
purpose  to  put  aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of  humanity  and 
use  its  submarines  to  sink  every  vessel  that  sought  to 
approach  either  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  or 
the  western  coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the  ports  controlled 
by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within  the  Mediterranean.^ 
That  had  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the  German  submarine 
warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but  since  April  of  last  year  the 
Imperial  Government  had  somewhat  restrained  the  com- 
manders of  its  undersea  craft,  in  conformity  with  its  promise, 


6  THE    WAK    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND   IT. 

then  given  to  us/  that  passenger  boats  should  not  be  sunk, 
and  that  due  warning  would  be  given  to  all  other  vessels 
which  its  submarines  might  seek  to  destroy,  when  no  resist- 
ance was  offered  or  escape  attempted,  and  care  taken  that 
their  crews  were  given  at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their 
lives  in  their  open  boats.  The  precautions  taken  were 
meager  and  haphazard  enough,  as  was  proved  in  distressing 
instance  after  instance  in  the  progress  of  the  cruel  and 
unmanly  business,  but  a  certain  degree  of  restraint  was 
observed.^ 

3  The  German  Chancellor  in  announcing  this  repudiation  of  all  his  solemn  pledges 
in  the  Imperial  Parliament  (Reichstag),  on  January  31,  frankly  admitted  that  this 
policy  involved  ' '  ruthlessness ' '  toward  neutrals.  ' '  When  the  most  ruthless  methods 
are  considered  the  best  calculated  to  lead  us  to  victory  and  to  a  swift  victory  *  *  * 
they  must  be  employed.  *  *  *  The  moment  has  now  arrived.  Last  August 
[when  he  was,  as  he  himself  here  admits,  allowing  the  American  people  to  believe 
that  in  response  to  its  protest  he  had  laid  aside  such  ruthless  methods]  the  time  was 
not  yet  ripe,  but  to-day  the  moment  has  come  when,  with  the  greatest  prospect  of 
success,  we  can  undertake  this  enterprise. " 

4  The  broken  Sussex  pledge.  On  May  4,  1916,  the  German  Government,  in  reply 
to  the  protest  and  warning  of  the  United  States  following  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex, 
gave  this  promise:  That  "merchant  vessels  both  within  and  without  the  area  declared 
a  naval  war  zone  shall  not  be  sunk  without  warning,  and  without  saving  human  lives, 
unless  the  ship  attempt  to  escape  or  offer  resistance. ' ' 

Germany  added,  indeed,  that  if  Great  Britain  continued  her  blockade  policy,  she 
would  have  to  consider  ' '  a  new  situation. ' ' 

On  May  8,  1916,  the  United  States  replied  that  it  could  not  admit  that  the  pledge 
of  Germany  was  ' '  in  the  slightest  degree  contingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any  other 
Government"  (i.  e.,  on  any  question  of  the  English  blockade).  To  this  Germany 
made  no  reply  at  all,  and  under  general  diplomatic  usage,  when  one  nation  makes  a 
statement  to  another,  the  latest  statement  of  the  case  stands  as  final  unless  there  is  a 
protest  made. 

The  promise  made  by  Germany  thus  became  a  binding  pledge,  and  as  s»ch  was  torn 
up  with  other  ' '  scraps  of  paper ' '  by  the  German  ' '  unlimited  submarine  warfare ' ' 
note  of  January  31,  1917. 

5  As  to  the  proper  usages  in  dealing  with  merchant  vessels  in  war,  here  are  the  rules 
laid  down  some  time  ago  for  the  American  Navy  (a  fighting  navy,  surely),  and  these 
rules  hardly  differed  in  other  navies,  including  the  Russian  and  Japanese: 

United  States  Naval  War  Code,  now  in  preparation,  retains  and  amplifies  the 
following  provisions  of  the  Code  published  in  1900  (p.  48)  : 

' '  The  personnel  of  a  merchant  vessel  captured  as  a  prize  *  *  *  are  entitled  to 
their  personal  effects. 

"All  passengers  not  in  the  service  of  the  enemy,  and  all  women  and  children  on 
board  such  vessels  should  be  released  and  landed  at  a  convenient  port  at  the  first 
opportunity. 

"Any  person  in  the  naval  service  of  the  United  States  who  pillages  or  maltreats 
in  any  manner,  any  person  found  on  board  a  merchant  vessel  captured  as  a  prize, 
shall  be  severely  punished. ' ' 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT.  7 

United  States  Naval  War  College,  International  Law  Topics,  1905,  page  62:  "If  a 
seized  neutral  vessel  can  not  for  any  reason  be  brought  into  court  for  adjudication  it 
should  be  dismissed." 

United  States  Naval  War  Code,  on  safety  required  for  persons  on  a  captured  vessel 
(United  States  Naval  War  College,  International  Law  Toincs,  1913,  p.  165):  "The 
destruction  of  a  vessel  which  has  surrendered  without  first  removing  its  officers  and 
crew  would  be  an  act  contrary  to  the  sense  of  right  which  prevails  even  between 
enemies  in  time  of  war. ' ' 

And  also  Lawrence  (standard  autliority  on  international  law),  International  Law, 
1911)  edition,  page  4S4:  "It  is  better  lor  a  naval  officer  to  release  a  ship  as  to  which 
he  is  doubtful  than  to  risk  personal  punishment  and  international  complications  by 
destroying  innocent  property. ' ' 

The  new  jDolicy  lias  swept  every  restriction  aside.  Vessels 
of  every  kind,  whatever  their  fla^,  their  character,  their 
cargo,  their  destination,  their  errand,  have  been  ruthlessly 
sent  to  the  bottom  without  warninj^  and  without  thought  of 
help  or  mercy  for  those  on  board,  the  vessels  of  friendly 
neutrals  along  with  those  of  belligerents.  Even  hospital 
ships  and  ships  carrying  relief  to  the  sorely  bereaved  and 
stricken  people  of  Belgium,*'  though  the  latter  were  provided 
with  safe  conduct  through  the  proscribed  areas  by  the  German 
Government  itself  and  were  distinguished  by  unmistakable 
marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk  with  the  same  reckless 
lack  of  compassion  or  of  princii^le. 

6  Mr.  Wilson  was  undoubtedly  thinking  of  the  cases  of  the  British  hospital  ships 
Asturias  sunk  March  20,  and  the  Gloucester  Castle.  These  vessels  had  been  sunk 
although  protected  by  the  most  solemn  possible  of  international  compacts.  The 
Germans  seem  to  have  acknowledged  the  sinking  of  the  Asturias  and  to  have  regarded 
their  feat  with  great  complacency.  Somewhat  earlier  in  the  war  the  great  liner 
Britannic  had  been  sunk  while  in  service  as  a  hospital  ship,  and  the  evidence  seems 
to  be  it  was  torpedoed  by  a  U-boat,  although  the  proof  here  is  not  conclusive.  Since 
this  message  was  written  the  Germans  have  continued  their  policy  of  murdering  more 
wounded  soldiers  and  their  nurses  by  sinking  more  hospital  ships. 

The  Belgian  relief  ships  referred  to  were  probably  the  Camilla,  Trevier,  and  the 
Feistein,  but  most  particularly  the  large  Norwegian  steamer  Storstad,  sunk  with  10,000 
tons  of  grain  for  the  starving  Belgians.  Besides  these  sinkings,  two  other  relief  ships — 
the  Tunisie  and  the  Eaelen — were  attacked  unsuccessfully. 

I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that  such  things 
would  in  fact  be  done  by  any  Government  that  had  hitherto 
subscribed  to  the  humane  practices  of  civilized  nations.^ 
International  law  had  its  origin  in  the  attempt  to  set  up 
some  law  which  would  be  respected  and  observed  upon  the 
seas,  where  no  nation  had  right  of  dominion  and  where  lay 
the  free  highways  of  the  world.  By  painful  stage  after  stage 
has    that    law   been    built    up    with    meager    enough    results, 


8  THE    WAK    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT. 

indeed,  after  all  was  accomplished  that  could  be  accom- 
plished, but  always  with  a  clear  view,  at  least,  of  what  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  mankind  demanded. 

7  No  nation  assuredly  has  made  prouder  claims  than  Germany  to  a  superior  ' '  kultur, ' ' 
or  made  louder  assertions  of  its  desire  to  vindicate  * '  the  freedom  of  the  seas. ' ' 

This  minimum  of  right  the  German  Government  has  swept 
aside  under  the  plea  of  retaliation  and  necessity  and  because 
it  had  no  weapons  which  it  could  use  at  sea  except  these, 
which  it  is  impossible  to  employ,  as  it  is  employing  them, 
without  throwing  to  the  wind  all  scruples  of  humanity  or  of 
respect  for  the  understandings  that  were  supposed  to  underlie 
the  intercourse  of  the  world. 

I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  of  property  involved, 
immense  and  serious  as  that  is,  but  only  of  the  wanton  and 
wholesale  destruction  of  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  men 
women,  and  children,  engaged  in  pursuits  which  have  always 
even  in  the  darkest  periods  of  modern  history,^  been  deemed 
innocent  and  legitimate.  Property  can  be  paid  for;  the  lives 
of  peaceful  and  innocent  people  can  not  be.  The  present 
German  submarine  warfare  against  commerce  is  a  warfare 
against  mankind. 

8  Mr.  Wilson  could  have  gone  further  back  than  ' '  modern  history. ' ' 

Even  in  the  most  troubled  period  of  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  consistent  effort  to 
spare  the  lives  of  nonbelligerents.  Thus  in  the  eleventh  century  not  merely  did  the 
church  enjoin  the  "truce  of  God"  which  ordered  all  warfare  to  cease  on  four  days 
of  the  week,  but  it  especially  pronounced  its  curse  upon  those  who  outraged  or  in- 
jured not  merely  clergymen  and  monks,  but  all  classes  of  women.  We  also  have 
ordinances  from  this  "dark  period"  of  history  forbidding  the  interference  with  shep- 
herds and  their  flocks,  the  damaging  of  olive  trees,  or  the  carrying  off  or  destruction 
of  farming  implements.  All  this  at  a  period  when  feudal  barons  are  alleged  to  have 
been  waging  their  wars  with  unusual  ferocity. 

Contrast  also  with  the  German  usages  this  American  instance: 

On  May  12,  1898,  Admiral  Sampson  with  the  American  fleet  appeared  before  San 
Juan,  P.  R.,  and  conducted  a  reconnoissance  in  force  to  see  if  Cervera  's  squadron  was 
in  the  port,  but  he  did  not  "subject  the  city  to  a  regular  bombardment"  because  that 
"would  have  required  due  notice"  for  the  removal  of  the  women,  children,  and  the 
sick.  lie  did  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  a  sudden  attack,  well  driven  home, 
would  probably  have  given  him  the  city.  In  the  attack  on  the  forts  alone,  which  he 
actually  made,  his  ship  captains  were  carefully  charged  to  avoid  hitting  the  Spanish 
military  hospital.     (See  H.  Doc.  No.  12,  55th  Cong.,  3d  sess.,  p.  368.) 

No  one  certainly  has  ever  accused  the  American  Navy  of  "hitting  soft"  or  of  being 
unwilling  to  wage  the  most  strenuous  kind  of  honorable  warfare. 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS   BEHIND    IT.  V 

It  is  a  war  against  all  nations  American  ships  liave 
been  sunk,'  American  lives  taken,'"  in  ways  which  it  lias 
stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and  people 
of  other  neutral  and  friendly  nations "  have  been  sunk  and 
overwhelmed  in  the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There  has 
been  no  discrimination. 

0  American  vessels  sunk  by  submarines  following  German  decree  of  ruthless  sub- 
marine policy,  Jan.  31,  1917. 

Following  eight  or  more  American  vessels  which  had  been  sunk  or  attacked  earlier, 
in  most  cases  in  contravention  to  international  law,  these  ships  also  had  been  sunk 
following  the  repudiation  of  her  pledges  by  Germany: 

February     3,  1917,  Housatonic. 
February  13,   1917,  Lyman  M.  Law. 
March  16,  1917,   Vigilancia. 
March  17,  1917,  City  of  Memphis. 
March  17,  1917,  Illinois. 

March  21,  1917,  Uealdion  (claimed  to  have  been  sunk  off  Dutch  coast,  and  far  from 
the  so-called  "prohibited  zone.") 
April  1,  1917,  Aztec. 
March  2,  1917,  Algonquin. 

Furthermoi-e,  no  American  should  forget  the  sinking  of  the  William  P.  Frye  on 
January  28,  1915,  by  a  German  raider.  This  act  under  normal  circumstances  would 
be  a  casus  belli.  The  raider,  the  Prins  Eitel  Friedrich,  then  impudently  took  refuge 
in  an  American  port. 

10  American  lives  lost  on  the  ocean  during  the  war.  (See  Cong.  Rec,  65th  Cong., 
1st  sess.,  p.  1006.) 

American  lives  have  been  lost  during  the  sinking  of  at  least  20  vessels,  whereof  4 
were  American,  1  Dutch,  and  1  Norwegian.  In  one  or  two  cases  the  vessel  tried  to 
escape  and  made  resistance,  and  the  loss  of  life  was  possibly  excusable  for  the  Germans. 
In  the  bulk  of  the  cases  the  destruction  was  without  fair  warning  and  without  reason- 
able effort  to  give  the  passengers  and  crew  chance  to  escape. 

Among  the  more  flagrant  cases  were: 

May  7,  1915,  Lusitania,  114  Americans  lost. 

August  19,  1915,  Arabic,  3  Americans  lost. 

September  4,  1915,  Hesperian,  1  American  lost, 

October  28,  1916,  Marina,  8  Americans  lost. 

December  14,  1916,  Eussian,  17  Americans  lost. 

February  26,  1917,  Laconia,  8  Americans  lost. 

March  16,  1917,  Vigilancia,  5  Americans  lost  (United  States). 

March  21,  1917,  Eealdton,  7  Americans  lost   (United  States). 

April  1,  1917,  Aztec,  28  Americans  lost   (United  States). 

Some  on  Aztec  probably  not  American  citizens,  although  she  was  a  regular  American 
ship. 

In  all,  up  to  declaration  of  war  by  us,  226  American  citizens,  many  of  them  women 
and  children,  had  lost  their  lives  by  the  action  of  German  submarines,  and  in  most 
instances  without  the  faintest  color  of  international  right. 

11  The  Norwegian  Legation  at  London  has  announced  that  during  February  and 
March,  1917,  105  Norwegian  vessels  of  over  228,000  tons  have  been  sunk,  and  106 
persons  thereon  killed,  and  222  are  massing. 

On  February  22,  1917,  seven  Dutch  vessels  which  left  an  English  port  on  promise 
of   "relative   security"   from   the   Berlin   authorities   were   all   attacked   by   German 

5340°— 17 2 


10  THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND   IT.  i 

U-boats  and  six  of  them  were  sunk.  Germany  has  admitted  that  its  boats  did  the  i 
deed,  and  has  expressed  "regrets"  to  Holland,  although  adding  blandly  "the  inci- 
dent proves  how  dangerous  it  is  to  navigate  the  prohibited  zone,  and  gives  expression  '. 
to  our  wish  that  neutral  navigators  remain  in  their  ports."  As  a  result  of  this  policy  j 
of  terrorism,  the  ships  of  Holland  have  been  practically  driven  off  the  seas.  Many  I 
of  them  have  taken  refuge  in  harbors  of  the  United  States.  ' 

Spaniards   have   been    exasperated   by   the   destruction   of   their   vessels,   the   most  I 
recent  instance  being  that  of  a  Spanish  ship,  with  a  Spanish  cargo,  sunk  in  Spanish 
waters.     Swedish  over-sea  commerce  is  practically  ruined  by  the  fear  of  their  owners 

at  the  indiscriminate  ruthlessness  of  the  submarine.  ] 

The  United  States  Government  made  an   official  estimate  that  by  April  3,  1917,  | 

no  less  than  686  neutral  vessels  had  been  sunk  by  German  submarines  since  the  [ 
beginning  of  the  war.     This  did  not  include  any  American  vessels.     (New  York 

Times  History  of  the  War,  May,  1917,  pp.  239  and  241.)  j 

The   cliallenge   is  to   all   mankind.     Each  nation  must  decide 
for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it.^"     The  choice  we  make  for  our-  : 
selves   must   be   made   with   a   moderation   of   counsel   and   a 
temperateness    of   judgment   befitting   our   character   and   our  \ 
motives   as   a   Nation.     We  must   put   excited  feelings   away.  I 
Our  motive  will  not  be   revenge   or  the  victorious   assertion  ! 
of    the    physical    might    of    the    Nation,    but    only    the    vindi- 
cation  of  riglit/^    of  human  right,   of  which  we   are   only  a 
single  champion.  : 

12  Practically  all  the  civilized  neutral  countries  of  the  earth  have  protested  at  the  i 
German  policy.  Some,  like  Brazil,  China,  Bolivia,  and  Guatemala,  have  broken  [ 
diplomatic  relations  with  Germany. 

The  neutral  states  of  Europe,  fearful  of  being  caught  in  the  horrors  of  the  great  war, 
have  protested  just  as  far  as  they  have  dared.  Holland  and  Denmark  may,  of  course, 
at  any  time  see  a  German  Army  over  their  borders.  Norway  and  Sweden  are  hardly  ! 
in  a  safe  position,  but  they  have  made  their  vehement  protest  at  the  German  out- 
rages. Spain,  which  had  exercised  a  forbearance  similar  to  that  of  the  United  States, 
has  finally,  after  futile  protests,  been  obliged  (May  18,  1917)  to  send  Germany  a  note  ,i 
in  the  nature  of  an  ultimatum,  demanding  reparation  for  the  past  and  guaranties 
for  the  future.  i 

13  Submarines  are  such  exceptional  instruments  of  warfare  that  it  is  held  by  authori- 
ties on  international  law  that  they  ought  never  to  submerge  in  neutral  waters,  other- 
wise it  is  impossible  for  a  neutral  to  control  them  and  be  responsible  for  them  as  with 
ordinary  visiting  warships. 

Says  Prof.  Theodore  S.  Woolsey,  of  Yale,  a  very  high  authority.  ! 

"      *     *     *     I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  U-boat  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  j 

surface  cruiser  with  no  additional  rights  and  privileges  and  with   the  same   duties  | 

and    liabilities.      Hence    in    neutral    waters   it    should    not    submerge.      Submergence  | 

imperils  neutrality  by  making  the  performance  of  neutral  duties  more  arduous  and  the  i 

evasion  of  neutral  rights  easier."     (American  Journal  of  International  Law,  January,  - 

1917,  p.  139.)  ; 

When  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  26th  of  February  j 
last   I   thought   it   would    suffice  to  assert  our  neutral   rights 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT.  11 

with  arms,  our  right  to  use  the  seas  against  unlawful  inter- 
ference, our  right  to  keep  our  people  safe  against  unlawful 
violence.  But  armed  neutrality,  it  now  appears,  is  im- 
practicable." Because  submarines  are  in  effect  outlaws, 
when  used  as  the  German  submarines  have  been  used  against 
merchant  shipping,  it  is  impossible  to  defend  ships  against 
their  attacks,  as  the  law  of  nations  has  assumed  that  mer- 
chantmen would  defend  themselves  against  privateers  or 
cruisers,  visible  craft  giving  chase  upon  the  open  sea.  It  is 
common  prudence  in  such  circumstances,  grim  necessity 
indeed,  to  endeavor  to  destroy  them  before  they  have 
shown  their  own  intention.  They  must  be  dealt  with  upon 
sight,  if  dealt  with  at  all. 

14  In  1798,  on  account  of  the  attacks  on  our  commerce  by  French  cruisers  and 
privateers,  Congress  empowered  President  John  Adams  to  arm  merchant  vessels,  to 
let  them  defend  themselves,  and  to  let  our  warships  attack  the  offending  French 
vessels. 

There  were  several  really  serious  naval  battles  (especially  when  the  U.  S.  S.  Con- 
stellation took  the  French  frigate  L'Insurgcnte,  1799),  and  international  experts  are 
of  the  opinion  that  very  probably  an  actual  state  of  war  existed.  In  any  case  the 
country  was  headed  straight  into  war,  and  preparations  were  being  made  to  raise  a 
strong  army  with  Washington  again  as  commander.  Then  at  the  last  moment, 
Napoleon,  who  had  just  come  to  power,  had  the  wisdom  to  offer  terms  President 
Adams  could  accept.  The  German  Imperial  Government  had  no  such  wisdom  or 
restraint. 

The  German  Government  denies  the  right  of  neutrals  to 
use  arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the  sea  which  it  has  pro- 
scribed even  in  the  defence  of  rights  which  no  modern 
publicist  has  ever  before  questioned  ^^  their  right  to  defend. 
The  intimation  is  conveyed  that  the  armed  guards  which 
we  have  placed  on  our  merchant  ships  will  be  treated  as 
beyond  the  pale  of  law  and  subject  to  be  dealt  with  as 
pirates  would  be.  Armed  neutrality  is  ineffectual  enough  at 
best;  in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face  of  such  pre- 
tensions it  is  worse  than  ineffectual;  it  is  likely  only  to  pro- 
duce what  it  was  meant  to  prevent;  it  is  practically  certain 
to  draw  us  into  war  without  either  the  rights  or  the  effec- 
tiveness of  belligerents.  There  is  one  choice  we  can  not 
make  we  are  incapable  of  making:  we  will  not  choose  the 
path  of  submission  and  suffer  the  most  sacred  rights  of 
our   nation   and    our   people   to  be  ignored  or  violated.^*'     The 


12  THE  WAR    MESSAGE    AND   FACTS   BEHIND   IT. 

wrongs    against   which    we    now    array    ourselves    are    no    com- 
mon  wrongs;   they   cut   to   the  very  roots  of  human  life. 

15  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  following  were  the  standing  orders  in  the 
German  Navy  for  dealing  with  even  enemy  merchant  vessels,  and  if  that  was  the  ease 
how  much  more  consideration  should  be  given  to  neutrals.  The  new  German  orders 
are  a  brazen  contradiction  of  their  own  previous  precepts. 

General  orders  of  German  Admiralty  staff,  Berlin,  June  22,  1914.     (Note  date.) 

"If  an  armed  enemy  merchant  vessel  offers  armed  resistance  .  .  .  such  resistance 
is  to  be  overcome  with  all  means  available.  .  .  .  The  crew  a.re  to  be  taken  prison- 
ers of  war.  The  passengers  are  to  be  left  to  go  free  unless  it  appears  that  they  par- 
ticipated in  the  resistance."     {German  Prise  Code,  p.  75,  par.  116.) 

"Before  proceeding  to  the  destruction  of  the  [neutral]  vessel  [which  has  been  seized 
for  proper  reason],  the  safety  of  all  persons  on  board,  and,  so  far  as  possible,  their 
effects,  is  to  be  provided  for  ..."     (German  Prise  Code,  p.  68.) 

Dr.  Wehberg  (great  German  authority  on  international  law,  quoted  in  American 
Journal  of  Int.  Latv,  Oct.  1916,  p.  871.) 

' '  The  enemy  merchant  ship  has  the  right  of  defense  against  enemy  attack,  and 
this  right  it  can  exercise  against  'visit'  (i.  e.,  being  stopped  and  investigated),  for 
this  indeed  is  the  first  act  of  ca^jture.  The  attacked  merchant  ship  can  indeed  itself 
seize  the  overpowered  warship  as  a  prize. ' ' 

And  still  again — 

In  Oxford,  1913,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Institute  of  International  Law,  at  which  the 
representatives  of  Germany,  as  well  as  of  all  other  great  nations,  were  present,  it  was 
decided  as  a  firm  principle  that  jjrivate  vessels  may  not  commit  acts  of  hostility 
against  the  enemy  and  that  they  may  defend  themselves  against  the  attack  of  an 
enemy  vessel.     {Avierican  Journal  of  International  Law,  vol.  10,  1916,  p.  868.) 

16  Right  of  American  citizens  to  protection  in  their  doings  abroad  and  on  the  seas 
no  less  than  at  home.  Decided  by  Supreme  Court  of  United  States.  (Slaughter 
House  Cases,  16  Wall.,  36.) 

"Every  citizen  .  .  .  may  demand  the  care  and  protection  of  the  United  States 
when  on  the  high  seas  or  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  foreign  Government. ' ' 

See  Cooley's  Principles  of  Constitutional  Law,  third  edition,  page  273  (standard 
authority). 

Obviously  a  Government  which  can  not  or  will  not  protect  its  citizens  against  a 
policy  of  lawless  murder  is  unworthy  of  respect  abroad  or  obedience  at  home.  The 
protection  of  the  lives  of  the  innocent  and  law-abiding  is  clearly  the  very  first  duty 
of  a  civilized  state. 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even  tragical 
character  of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of  the  grave  responsi- 
bilities which  it  involves  but  in  unhesitating  obedience  to 
what  I  deem  my  constitutional  duty  I  advise  that  the  Con- 
gress declare  the  recent  course  of  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than  war  against  the 
Government  and  people  of  the  United  States;"  that  it 
formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent  which  has  thus 
been  thrust  upon  it;  and  that  it  take  immediate  steps  not 
only  to  put  the  country  in  a  more  thorough  state  of  defense, 
but  also  to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ  all  its  resources 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE   AND    FACTS   BEHIND    IT.  13 

to  bring  the   Government   of  the   German   Empire   to   terms 
and  end  the  war. 

17  Wars  do  not  have  to  be  declared  in  order  to  exist.  The  mere  commission  of  war- 
like or  unfriendly  acts  commences  them.  Thus  the  first  serious  clash  in  the  Mexican 
war  took  place  Ajjril  24,  1846.  Congress  "recognized"  the  state  of  war  only  on  May 
11  of  that  year.  Already  Gen.  Taylor  had  fought  two  serious  battles  at  Palo  Alto  and 
Eesaca  de  la  Palnia. 

Many  other  like  cases  could  be  cited;  the  most  recent  was  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
between  Japan  and  Russia.  In  1904  the  Japanese  attacked  the  Russian  fleet  before 
Port  Arthur,  and  only  several  days  after  this  battle  was  war  "recognized." 

If  the  acts  of  Germany  were  unfriendly  war  in  the  strictest  sense  existed  when  the 
President  addressed  Congress. 

"Wliat  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve  the  utmost 
practicable  cooperation  in  counsel  and  action  with  the  Gov- 
ernments now  at  war  with  Germany,  and  as  incident  to  that, 
the  extension  to  those  Governments  of  the  most  liberal 
financial  credits,  in  order  that  our  resources  may  so  far  as 
possible  be  added  to  theirs. 

It  will  involve  the  organization  and  mobilization  of  all 
the  material  resources  of  the  country  to  supply  the  materials 
of  war  and  serve  the  incidental  needs  of  the  Nation  in  the 
most  abundant  and  yet  the  most  economical  and  efficient 
way  possible. 

It  will  involve  the  immediate  full  equipment  of  the  Navy 
in  all  respects  but  particularly  in  supplying  it  with  the 
best  means  of  dealing  with  the  enemy's  submarines. 

It  will  involve  the  immediate  addition  to  the  armed  forces 
of  the  United  States, ^^  already  provided  for  by  law  in  case 
of  war,  of  at  least  500,000  men,  who  should,  in  my  opinion, 
be  chosen  upon  the  principle  of  universal  liability  to  service, 
and  also  the  authorization  of  subsequent  additional  incre- 
ments of  equal  force  so  soon  as  they  may  be  needed  and  can 
be  handled  in  training. 

It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the  granting  of  adequate 
credits  ^^  to  the  Government,  sustained,  I  hope,  so  far  as 
they  can  equitably  be  sustained  by  the  present  generation, 
by  well-conceived  taxation. 

18  Bills  passed  by  Congress,  with  dates  on  which  they  were  presented  to  President: 
Apr.     5.  S.  J.  Res.  1 ..  Declaration  of  war. 

17.  H.  R.   12.  . .  .Deficiency  appropriation  bill  for  the  year  ending  June,  1917. 

23.   H.  R.   2762.. Bond-issue  bill. 

23.   H.   R.   2339.  .Increasing  number  of  midshipmen  at  Annapolis. 


14  THE    WAB   MESSAGE   AND    FACTS   BEHIND   IT. 

!Apr.  23.   H.   E.   2008.  .Extending  minority  enlistments  in  the  Navy. 

23.   H.   E.   2338.  .Authorizing  additional  officers  for  Hydrographic  Office. 
23.   H.   E.   2300 .  .  Increasing  age  limit  for  officers  in  Naval  Eeserve. 
23.   H.   E.   1771.  .Amending  naval  appropriations  act  for  the  year  ending  June, 
1917. 
May     5.   H.   E.   2893.  .Permitting  foreign  governments  to  enlist  their  nationals  resid- 
ing in  the  United  States. 

10.  S.  J.  Ees.  42 . .  Authorizing  seizure  of  interned  German  ships. 

11.  H.   E.    13 ... .  Army  appropriation  bill  for  the  year  ending  June,  1918. 

15.  H.   E.   2337.  .Enrollments  of  aliens  in  the  Naval  Reserve. 

16.  H.   E.   3330.  .Increasing  Navy  and  Marine  Corps  to  150,000  men. 
18.  S.    1871 Conscription   bill. 

Bills  in  conference  on  May  17: 
[A.pr.   16.   H.  R.   11. . .  .Sundry  civil  appropriations  for  the  year  ending  June,  1918. 

16.   H.   E.   10 Military  Academy  appropriations  for  the  year  ending  June, 

1918. 

May  15.  S.  2 Espionage  bill. 

Bills  awaiting  action  of  one  House: 

S.    383 Passed  Senate  Apr.  9,  punishing  the  destruction  of  war  ma- 
terial. 

H.  E.  328 Passed  House  May  9,  car  shortage. 

H.  E.  3971 Passed  House  May  2,  special  war  appropriation  bill, 

I  say  sustained  so  far  as  may  be  equitable  by  taxation, 
because  it  seems  to  me  tliat  it  would  be  most  unwise  to  base 
tlie  credits,  which  will  now  be  necessary,  entirely  on  money 
borrowed.  It  is  our  duty,  I  most  respectfully  ur^e,  to  pro- 
tect our  people,  so  far  as  we  may,  against  the  very  serious 
hardships  and  evils  which  would  be  likely  to  arise  out  of  the 
inflation  which  would  be  produced  by  vast  loans. 

In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these  things  are  to 
be  accomplished  we  should  keep  constantly  in  mind  the 
wisdom  of  interfering  as  little  as  possible  in  our  own  prepara- 
tion and  in  the  equipment  of  our  own  military  forces  with 
the  duty — for  it  will  be  a  very  practical  duty — of  supplying 
the  nations  already  at  war  with  Germany  with  the  materials 
which  they  can  obtain  only  from  us  or  by  our  assistance. 
They  are  in  the  field,  and  we  should  help  them  in  every  way 
to  be  effective  there/^ 

19  To  anyone  who  will  reflect  upon  the  subject,  it  will  soon  appear  to  be  preposterous 
folly  to  suggest  that  we  "go  it  alone"  against  Germany,  and  to  fail  to  give  all  possible 
aid  to  her  original  enemies.  Obviously  unless  we  send  munitions,  troops,  submarine 
chasers,  etc.,  to  France,  England,  and  possibly  Eussia,  since  the  German  high-sea 
fleet  does  not  at  present  come  out,  the  war  for  us  will  mean  little  more  than  calling 
names  across  the  Atlantic — until  the  Eurojiean  war  is  ended,  and  then  if  Germany 
has  a  pound  of  strength  left  (and  very  possibly  she  might  be  victorious)  she  can  vent 
on  us  all  her  hate  and  fury,  and  exact  from  us  the  indemnities  she  can  not  wring  from 
a  bankrupt  Europe. 


/ 

THE    WAR   MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT.  15 

So  obvious  is  the  military  necesKity  of  giving  every  possible  help  to  the  present 
eneniaes  of  Germany  that  those  who  try  to  thwart  this  are  almost  open  to  the  very 
grave  criminal  charge  of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  through  the  several 
executive  departments  of  the  Government,  for  the  consid- 
eration of  your  committees,  measures  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  several  objects  I  have  mentioned.  I  hope  that 
it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  deal  with  them  as  having  been 
framed  after  very  careful  thought  by  the  branch  of  the 
Government  upon  whom  the  responsibility  of  conducting 
the  war  and  safeguarding  the  Nation  will  most  directly  fall. 

While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  momentous  things, 
let  us  be  very  clear,  and  make  very  clear  to  all  the  world,  what 
our  motives  and  our  objects  are.  My  own  thought  has  not 
been  driven  from  its  habitual  and  normal  course  by  the 
unhappy  events  of  the  last  two  months,  and  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  thought  of  the  Nation  has  been  altered  or  clouded 
by  them.  I  have  exactly  the  same  things  in  mind  now  that 
I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Senate  on  the  22d  of 
January  last;  the  same  that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed 
Congress  on  the  3d  of  February  and  on  the  26th  of  February.^" 

20  On  January  22  Mr.  Wilson  spoke  in  favor  of  a  league  to  secure  peace.  On  Feb- 
ruary 3  he  announced  he  had  broken  diplomatic  relations  ■nith  Germany,  but  ex- 
pressed the  earnest  hope  that  issues  would  not  proceed  to  a  clash  of  arms.  On  Feb- 
ruary 26  he  asked  for  ' '  armed  neutrality, ' '  but  still  avoided  an  actual  state  of  war. 

Our  object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate  the  principles  of 
peace  and  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world  as  against  selfish 
and  autocratic  power,  and  to  set  up  among  the  really  free 
and  self-governed  peoples  of  the  world  such  a  concert  of 
purpose  and  of  action  as  will  henceforth  insure  the  observance 
of  those  principles. 

Neutrality  is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable  where  the 
peace  of  the  world  is  involved  and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples, 
and  the  menace  to  that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  exist- 
ence of  autocratic  governments,"^  backed  by  organized  force 
which  is  controlled  wholly  by  their  will,  not  by  the  will  of 
their  people.  We  have  seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such 
circumstances.  We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which 
it  will  be  insisted  that  the  same  standards  of  conduct  and 
of  responsibility  for  wrong  done    shall    be    observed    among 


16  THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS   BEHIND    IT. 

nations    and    their    governments    that   are   observed    among   the 
individual  citizens  of  civilized  states/^ 

21  Contrast  these  two  standards :  Bethmann-Hollweg  addressing  the  Reichstag, 
JA-Ugust  -i,  It*  14: 

"We  are  now  in  a  state  of  necessity,  and  necessity  knows  no  law.  Our  troops  have 
occupied  (neutral)  Luxemburg  and  perhaps  already  have  entered  Belgium  territory. 
Gentlemen,  this  is  a  breach  of  international  law.  The  wrong — I  speak  openly — the 
wrong  we  hereby  commit  we  will  try  to  make  good  as  soon  as  our  military  aims  have 
been  attained. 

' '  He  who  is  menaced  as  we  are,  and  is  fighting  for  his  highest  possession,  can  only 
consider  how  he  is  to  hack  his  way  through. ' ' 

Or  Frederick  the  Great  again,  the  arch  prophet  of  Prussianism,  speaking  in  1740 
and  giving  the  keynote  to  all  his  successors,  '  *  The  question  of  right  is  an  affair  of 
ministers.  *  *  *  It  is  time  to  consider  it  in  secret,  for  the  orders  to  my  troops 
have  been  given,"  and  still,  again,  "Take  what  you  can;  you  are  never  wrong  unless 
you  are  obliged  to  give  back. ' '     (Perkins,  France  under  Louis  XV,  vol.  1,  pp.  169-170.) 

Against  this  set  the  words  of  the  first  President  of  the  Young  American  Republic, 
speaking  at  a  time  when  the  Nation  was  so  weak  that  surely  any  kind  of  shifts  could 
have  been  justified  on  the  score  of  necessity. 

Said  George  Washington  in  his  first  inaugural  address  (1789). 

"...  the  foundation  of  our  national  policy  will  be  laid  in  the  pure  and  immu- 
table principles  of  private  morality,  and  the  preeminence  of  free  government  be 
exemplified  by  all  the  attributes  which  can  win  the  affections  of  its  citizens  and 
conunand  the  respect  of  the  world.  I  dwell  on  this  prospect  with  every  satisfaction 
which  an  ardent  love  for  my  country  can  inspire,  since  there  is  no  truth  more  thor- 
oughly established  than  that  there  exists  in  the  economy  and  course  of  nature  an 
indissoluble  union  between  virtue  and  happiness;  between  duty  and  advantage; 
between  the  genuine  maxims  of  an  honest  and  magnanimous  policy  and  the  solid 
rewards  of  public  prosperity  and  felicity;  since  w^e  ought  to  be  no  less  persuaded  that 
the  propitious  smiles  of  Heaven  can  never  be  expected  on  a  nation  that  disregards 
the  eternal  rules  of  order  and  right  which  Heaven  itself  has  ordained;  and  since  the 
preservation  of  the  sacred  fire  of  liberty  and  the  destiny  of  the  republican  model  of 
government  are  justly  considered,  perhaps,  as  deeply,  as  finally,  staked  on  the  experi- 
ment intrusted  to  the  hands  of  the  American  people." 

The  present  war  is  for  a  large  part  being  waged  to  settle  whether  the  American  or 
the  Prussian  standard  of  morality  is  valid. 

22  The  autocratic  spirit  of  the  German  Emperor  is  clearly  revealed  in  his  own 
utterances  (cf.  p.  17.)  The  Imperial  Government  is  in  form  a  government  by  the 
Emperor  and  the  Imperial  Diet.  The  dominant  factor  in  the  latter  is  the  Federal 
Council  (Bundesrat),  appointed  by  the  kings  and  princes.  Here  as  King  of  Prussia, 
William  II  can  make  or  break  any  policy.  Prussia  is  the  controlling  factor,  political, 
economic,  and  military,  in  modern  Germany.  In  area  it  constitutes  two-thirds  of 
Germany,  and  five-eighths  of  its  population  and  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  the 
lower  house  of  the  German  Congress  are  Prussians.  Within  Prussia  there  is  little 
limit  on  the  power  of  William  II.  In  a  constitution  which  his  great-uncle  "decreed" 
in  1850  the  rights  of  the  King  and  of  the  "Junkers"  (the  feudal  military  nobles  east 
of  the  Elbe)  are  carefully  guarded. 

The  constitution  of  Prussia  has  remained  practically  unchanged  and  the  electoral 
districts  and  throe  class  voting  system  of  nearly  70  years  ago  still  exist.  Liberal 
industrial  and  socialistic  elements  in  the  great  modern  cities  and  manufacturing 
areas  are  without  adequate  representation  in  the  Prussian  Diet,  and  the  old  country 
districts  are  practically  "rotten  boroughs"  where  the  peasant  who  votes  by  voice, 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT.  17 

not  written  ballot,  is  at  the  merey  of  his  feudal  noble  landlord.  It  is  tho  latter 
who  back  the  throne  and  its  autoi-ratif  power  so  long  as  the  policy  suits  their  niirrort 
provincial  militaristic  views  formed  in  the  days  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  his  desjiotic 
father  and  revived  and  glorified  by  Bismarck. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We  have 
no  feeling  toward  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and  friendship. 
It  was  not  upon  their  impulse  that  their  government  acted 
in  entering  the  war.'^  It  was  not  with  their  previous  knowl- 
edge or  approval.'*  It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as  wars 
used  to  be  determined  upon  in  the  old  unhappy  days,  when 
peoples  were  nowhere  consulted  by  their  rulers  and  wars 
were  provoked  and  waged  in  the  interest  of  dynasties " 
or  of  little  groups  of  ambitious  men  who  were  accustomed 
to  use  their  fellow  men  as  pawns  and  tools. 

23  When  the  crisis  was  precipitated  late  in  July,  1914,  there  was  a  strong  peace- 
party  in  Germany,  and  earnest  protests  were  made  against  letting  Austrian  aggres- 
sion against  Serbia  start  a  world  conflagration.  In  Berlin  on  July  20,  28  mass  meet- 
ings were  held  to  denounce  the  proposed  war,  and  one  of  thcni  is  said  to  have  been 
attended  by  70,000  men.  The  Vorwaerts  (the  great  organ  of  the  socialists)  declared 
on  that  day,  "the  indications  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  camarMla  of  war  lords 
is  working  with  absolutely  unscrupulous  means  to  carry  out  their  fearful  designs 
to  precipitate  an  international  war  and  to  start  a  world--5\-ide  fire  to  devastate  Europe. ' ' 
On  the  31st  this  same  paper  asserted  that  the  policy  of  the  German  Government 
was  "utterly  without  conscience."  Then  came  the  declaration  of  "war  emergency" 
(Eriegsgefahr) ,  mobilization,  martial  law,  and  any  expression  of  public  opinion  was 
stilled  in  Germany. 

24  The  German  people  had  not  the  slightest  share  in  shaping  the  events  which  led 
up  to  the  declaration  of  war.  The  German  Emperor  is  clothed  by  the  Imperial  con- 
stitution with  practically  autocratic  power  in  all  matters  of  foreign  policy.  The 
Eeiehstag  has  not  even  a  consultative  voice  in  such  matters.  The  German  constitu- 
tion (art.  11)  gives  to  the  Emperor  specific  power  to  "declare  war,  conclude  peace, 
and  enter  into  alliances."  The  provision  that  only  defensive  wars  may  be  declared 
by  the  Emperor  alone  puts  the  power  in  his  hands  to  declare  this  and  any  other  war 
without  consulting  any  Ijut  the  military  grdup,  for  no  power  in  modern  times  has 
ever  admitted  that  it  waged  aggressive  warfare.  William  II  declared  this  war  without 
taking  his  people  into  the  slightest  confidence  until  the  final  deed  was  done. 

The  whole  tendency  of  responsible  German  statesmen  has  been  to  ignore  the  people 
in  foreign  affairs.  The  retired  chancellor,  Prince  von  Biilow,  defended  this  policy 
bluntly  on  the  ground  that  the  Germans  were  not  capable  of  self-government,  saying 
' '  We  are  not  a  political  people. ' ' 

As  for  William  IT,  speeches  without  number  can  be  cited  to  show  his  sense  of  his 
own  autocratic  authority — e.  g.,  speaking  at  Konigsberg,  in  1910 — "Looking  upon 
myself  as  the  instrument  of  the  Lord,  regardless  of  the  views  and  the  opinions  of  the 
hour,  I  go  on  my  way."  And  another  time:  "There  is  but  one  master  in  this  country: 
it  is  I,  and  I  will  bear  no  other."  He  has  also  been  very  fond  of  transforming  an  old 
Latin  adage,  making  it  read:  "The  will  of  the  king  is  the  highest  law." 

25  President  Wilson  probably  had  in  mind  such  wars  as  those  of  Louis  XIV,  waged 
by  that  King  almost  solely  for  his  own  glory  and  interest  and  with  extremely  little 


18  THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT. 

heed  to  the  small  benefit  and  great  suffering  they  brought  to  France.  The  War  of  the 
Spanish  Succession  (begun  in  1701)  was  particularly  such  a  war.  History,  of  course, 
contains  a  great  many  others  begun  from  no  worthier  motive,  including  several  con- 
ducted by  Prussia  and  earlier  by  Philip  II  of  Spain. 

Self-governed  nations  do  not  fill  their  neighbor  States 
with  spies  or  set  the  course  of  intrigue  to  bring  about  some 
critical  posture  of  affairs  which  will  give  them  an  oppor- 
tunity to  strike  and  make  conquest.^''  Such  designs  can  be 
successfully  worked  out  only  under  cover  and  where  no  one 
has  the  right  to  ask  questions.  Cunningly  contrived  plans 
of  deception  or  aggression,  carried,  it  may  be  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  can  be  worked  out  and  kept  from  the 
light  only  within  the  privacy  of  courts  or  behind  the  care- 
fully guarded  confidences  of  a  narrow  and  privileged  class. 
They  are  happily  impossible  where  public  opinion  commands 
and  insists  upon  full  information  concerning  all  the  nation's 
affairs. 

26  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  situation  in  Europe  in  July,  1914,  was 
regarded  by  the  German  "jingo"  party — Von  Tirpitz,  Bernhardi,  et  al. — as  peculiarly 
favorable.  Eussia  was  busy  rearming  her  army,  and  her  railway  system  had  not 
yet  been  properly  developed  for  strategic  purposes.  France  was  vexed  with  labor 
troubles,  a  murder  trial  was  heaping  scandal  upon  one  of  her  most  famous  statesmen, 
and  her  army  was  reported  by  her  ovm  statesmen  as  sadly  unready.  England  seemed 
on  the  point  of  being  plunged  into  a  civil  war  by  the  revolt  of  a  large  fraction  of  Ire- 
land. 

Such  a  convenient  crippling  of  all  the  three  great  rivals  of  Germany  might  never 
come  again.  The  murder  of  the  arch-duke  of  Austria  at  Serajevo  came,  therefore, 
as  a  most  convenient  occasion  for  a  stroke  which  would  either  result  in  a  great  increase 
of  Teutonic  prestige  or  enable  Germany  to  fight  with  every  possible  advantage. 

There  is  official  Italian  evidence  that  Serbia  would  have  been  attacked  by  the 
Teutonic  powers  in  August,  1913,  if  Italy  had  consented  to  help  the  scheme.  Her 
refusal  made  the  Austro-German  warlords  wait  until  July,  1914,  when  they  felt  the 
situation  favorable  enough  to  be  able  to  strike  without  awaiting  the  aid  of  Italy. 
(Signor  Giolitti,  in  Italian  Parliament,  Dec.  5,  1914.) 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  maintained 
except  by  a  partnership  of  democratic  nations."  No  auto- 
cratic Government  could  be  trusted  to  keep  faith  within  it 
or  observe  its  covenants.  It  must  be  a  league  of  honor,  a 
partnership  of  opinion.  Intrigue  would  eat  its  vitals  away; 
the  plottings  of  inner  circles  who  could  plan  what  they 
would,  and  render  account  to  no  one,  would  be  a  corruption 
seated  at  its  very  heart.  Only  free  people  can  hold  their 
purpose    and    their    honor    steady    to    a    common    end,    and 


THE   WAR   MESSAGE   AND   FACTS   BEHIND    IT.  19 

prefer    the    interests    of    mankind    to    any    narrow    interest    of 

.1        •  28 

their  own. 

27  The  willingness  of  Prussian  rulers  to  precipitate  war  and  to  throw  aside  ordinary 
considerations  for  peace  is  best  illustrated,  of  course,  by  the  famous  ' '  Ems  incident ' ' 
of  1870. 

At  that  time  Bismarck  had  decided  that  the  quickest  way  to  promote  German 
unity  and  serve  his  political  schemes  -svas  to  precipitate  a  war  with  France.  The 
inflamed  state  of  public  opinion  in  France  against  Prussia  made  the  task  easy  for 
him.  On  July  13,  1870,  he  received  a  telegram  from  King  William  I,  telling  of  an 
interview  he  had  had  with  the  French  ambassador,  about  a  very  ticklish  matter, 
and  leaving  it  to  Bismarck  to  decide  what  facts  it  was  wise  to  give  to  the  press, 

Bismarck,  after  consulting  Von  Moltke  as  to  the  state  of  the  army,  deliberately  cut 
down  and  sharpened  the  wording  of  the  telegram  from  the  King,  very  moderately 
phrased,  so  as  to  make  it  ajjpear  that  a  deliberate  insult  had  been  offered  the  French 
ambassador,  and  then  gave  out  this  text  of  the  dispatch  for  publication.  This  so 
enraged  Paris  public  opinion,  that  war  was  immediately  declared. 

Bismarck  took  great  pride  in  this  stroke,  and  the  facts  are  related  in  all  the  stand- 
ard German  histories,  as  well  as  many  others  which  copy  them. 

Bismarck  always  regarded  the  manner  in  which  he  precipitated  this  war  as  a  master- 
piece of  statecraft.  It  remained  a  kind  of  glorious  example  of  true  public  policy  for 
the  next  generation  of  public  men  in  Germany.  (See  the  account  by  Bism.arck 
himself  in  his  memoirs  translated  as  Bismarck;  The  Man  and  the  Statesman. 

28  The  great  humanitarian  aims  of  The  Hague  peace  conferences  of  1899  and  1907 
were  the  limitation  of  armaments  and  the  compulsory  arbitration  of  international  dis- 
putes. Unanimity  among  the  world  powers  was  essential  to  the  success  of  both. 
None  dared  disarm  unless  all  would  do  so.  The  great  democracies,  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  the  United  States,  favored  both  propositions,  but  Germany,  leading  the 
opposition,  prevented  their  adoption.  She  agreed  with  reluctance  to  a  convention  for 
optional  arbitration,  but  refused  at  the  second  conference  even  to  discuss  disarma- 
ment. [See  Scott,  James  Brown,  The  Hague  Peace  Conferences  of  1899  and  1907,  I, 
index  "Armaments"  and  "Arbitration."] 

Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assurance  has  heen 
added  to  our  hope  for  the  future  peace  of  the  workl  by  the 
wonderful  and  heartening  things  that  have  been  liappening 
within  the  last  few  weeks  in  Kussia?  Russia  was  known  by 
those  who  knew  her  best  to  have  been  always  in  fact  demo- 
cratic at  heart  in  all  the  vital  habits  of  her  thought,  in  all  the 
intimate  relationships  of  her  people  that  spoke  their  natural 
instinct,  their  habitual  attitude  toward  life.  The  autocracy 
that  cro-UTied  the  summit  of  her  political  structure,  long  as  it 
had  stood  and  terrible  as  was  the  reality  of  its  power,  was 
not  in  fact  Russian  in  origin,  character,  or  purpose,'^  and  now 
it  has  been  shaken  off  and  the  great  generous  Russian  people 
have  been  added,  in  all  their  native  majesty  and  might,  to 
the   forces   that   are   fighting   for   freedom   in   the  world,   for 


20  THE    WAE    MESSAGE    AND   FACTS   BEHIND   IT. 

justice,  and  for  peace.    Here  is  a  fit  partner  for  a  league  of 
honor. 

29  The  whole  autocratic  regime  has  been  imposed  on  a  people  whose  instincts  and 
institutions  are  fundamentally  democratic.  The  deposed  Romanoff  dynasty  began 
in  an  election  among  the  nobles.  Peter  the  Great  and  the  more  despotic  of  his  suc- 
cessors created  largely  by  imitation  and  adaptation  of  German  bureaucracy  the  ma- 
chinery with  which  they  ruled.  Underneath  this  un-Eussian  machinery  of  despotism 
Eussian  communal  and  local  life  has  preserved  itself  with  wonderful  vitality. 

During  the  Eussian  revolution  of  1905-6  it  was  perfectly  evident  that  the  German 
Government  was  doing  its  uttermost  to  help  the  Czar  and  the  old  regime.  The  pas- 
sage of  revolutionary  exiles  into  Germany  was  constantly  hindered;  many  were 
arrested  by  the  Prussian  police,  and  all  who  succeeded  in  entering  Germany  were 
kept  under  constant  espionage. 

The  Czar  and  the  Kaiser  were  hand  in  glove  to  a  large  extent  before  the  war  broke 
out.  The  German  White  Paper,  which  was  published  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
containing  telegrams  which  passed  personally  between  Nicholas  II  and  Wilhelm  II, 
gives  repeated  appeals  from  one  to  the  other  as  representatives  of  a  conunon  interest. 

One  of  the  things  that  have  served  to  convince  us  that 
tlie  Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  could  never  be  our 
friend  is  that  from  the  very  outset  of  the  present  war  it 
has  filled  our  unsuspecting  communities,  and  even  our 
offices  of  government,  with  spies  and  set  criminal  intrigues 
everywhere  afoot  against  our  national  unity  of  counsel,  our 
peace  within  and  without,  our  industries,  and  our  com- 
merce.^" Indeed  it  is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were  here 
even  before  the  war  began  and  it  is  unhappily  not  a  matter 
of  conjecture,  but  a  fact  proven  in  our  courts  of  justice,  that 
the  intrigues  which  have  more  than  once  come  perilously 
near  to  disturbing  the  peace  and  dislocating  the  industries 
of  the  country,  have  been  carried  on  at  the  instigation, 
with  the  support,  and  even  under  the  personal  directions  of 
official  agents  of  the  Imperial  Government  accredited  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States. 

30  Besides  undoubtedly  many  matters  which  from  reasons  of  public  policy  the 
Government  has  still  kept  hidden,  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  when  it  presented  the  war  resolution  following  the  President's  mes- 
sage, went  on  formal  record  as  listing  at  least  21  crimes  or  unfriendly  acts  committed 
upon  our  soil  with  the  connivance  of  the  German  Governmient  since  the  European 
war  began.     Among  these  were: 

Inciting  Hindoos  within  the  United  States  to  stir  up  revolts  in  India,  and  supplying 
them  with  funds  for  that  end,  contrary  to  our  neutrality  laws. 

Eunning  a  fraudulent  passport  office  for  German  reservists.  This  was  supervised 
by  Capt.  von  Papen  of  the  German  Embassy. 

Sending  German  agents  to  England  to  act  as  spies,  equipped  with  American  pass- 
ports. 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND    IT,  21 

Outfitting  steamers  to  siii)i)ly  Gorman  raiders,  and  sending  them  out  of  American 
ports  in  defiance  of  our  laws. 

Sending  an  agent  from  the  United  States  to  try  to  blow  iij.  the  International  Bridge 
at  Vanceboro,  Me. 

Furnishing  funds  to  agents  to  blow  up  factories  in  Canada. 

Five  different  conspiracies,  some  partly  successful,  to  manufacture  and  place 
bombs  on  ships  leaving  United  States  ])orts.  For  these  crimes  a  number  of  persons 
have  been  convicted,  also  Consui-General  Bopp,  of  San  Francisco  (a  very  high  Ger- 
man ofKcial  accredited  to  the  United  States  Government),  has  been  convicted  of 
plotting  to  cause  bridge  and  tunnels  to  be  destroyed  in  Canada. 

Financing  newspapers  in  this  country  to  conduct  a  propaganda  serviceable  to  the 
ends  of  the  German  Government. 

Stirring  up  anti-Am^ican  sentiment  in  Mexico  and  disorders  generally  in  that 
country,  to  make  it  imjiossible  for  the  United  States  to  mix  in  European  affairs. 

[N.  B. — This  last,  from  a  humanitarian  standpoint,  seems  pecuiiarlj'  outrageous. 
Germany  had  not  the  slightest  grievance  against  the  helpless  Mexicans.  To  incite 
them  to  revolt  against  their  own  Government  and  to  make  war  on  the  United  States 
simply  involved  their  misery  and  probable  destruction,  in  return  for  a  very  doubtful 
and  roundabout  gain  for  Germany.  The  greatest  wrong  was  not  to  the  United  States 
but  to  Mexico.] 

German  military  usage  has  been  quite  in  this  spirit,  however,  and  approves  of 
such  doings.     {See  German  JVai-  Code,  standard  translation,  p.  85.) 

"Bribery  of  enemies'  subjects,  acceptance  of  offers  of  treachery,  utilization  of 
discontented  elements  in  the  population,  support  of  pretenders  and  the  like,  are  per- 
missible; indeed,  international  law  is  in  no  way  opposed  to  the  exploitation  of  crimes 
of  third  parties." 

This,  of  course,  is  an  outrageous  travesty  of  international  law.  The  Hague  con- 
ference declined  to  seem  to  add  to  the  authority  of  a  practice  so  repulsive  by  legis- 
lating upon  the  subject.  What  would  the  German  people  say  of  America,  if  our 
Government  hired  assassins  to  murder  Kaiser  Wilhelm  or  Von  Hindenburg? 

Even  in  checking  these  things  and  tnang  to  extirpate 
them  we  have  sought  to  put  the  most  generous  interpreta- 
tion possible  upon  them  because  we  knew  that  their  source 
lay  not  in  any  hostile  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  German 
people  toward  us  (who  were,  no  doubt,  as  ignorant  of  them 
as  we  ourselves  were),  but  only  in  the  selfish  designs  of  a 
Government  that  did  what  it  pleased  and  told  its  people 
nothing.  But  they  have  played  their  part  in  serving  to 
convince  us  at  last  that  that  Government  entertains  no  real 
friendship  for  us,  and  means  to  act  against  our  peace  and 
security  at  its  convenience.^^  That  it  means  to  stir  up 
enemies  against  us  at  our  very  doors,  the  intercepted  note 
to  the  German  minister  at  Mexico  City  is  eloquent  evidence." 

31  A  Prussianized  Germany,  triumphant  in  Europe  and  dominant  on  the  seas,  would 
find  its  occasion  to  strike  down  America  in  its  isolation  and  make  of  us  the  over-seas 
tributary  of  a  new  Roman  Empire.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the  future  of 
democracy  and  of  independent  national  life  is  hanging  in  the  balance  in  this  struggle. 


22  THE    WAR   MESSAGE    AND   FACTS   BEHIND    IT. 

32  The  famous  " Zimmermann  note,"  exposed  by  our  Government  March  1,  is  a 
document  that  should  stick  in  the  memories  of  all  Americans.  Remember,  it  was 
composed  on  January  19,  1917,  at  a  time  when  Germany  and  America  were  officially 
very  good  friends,  and  the  date  was  just  three  days  before  Mr.  Wilson  appeared  in 
the  Senate  with  his  scheme  for  a  league  to  assure  peace  and  justice  to  the  world. 

Zimmermann  admitted  the  authenticity  of  the  note,  and  only  deplored  that  it  had 
been  discovered.    The  significant  parts  were  these; 

"Berlin,  January  19,  1917. 

"On  February  1  we  intend  to  begin  submarine  warfare  unrestricted.  In  spite  of 
this,  it  is  our  intention  to  keep  neutral  the  United  States  of  America. 

"If  this  attempt  is  not  successful,  we  propose  an  alliance  on  the  following  basis 
with  Mexico :  That  we  shall  make  war  together  and  together  make  peace.  We  shall 
give  general  financial  support,  and  it  is  understood  that  Mexico  is  to  reconquer  the 
lost  territory  in  New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Arizona.  The  details  are  left  to  you  for 
settlement. ' ' 

The  rest  of  the  dispatch  tells  the  German  minister  in  Mexico  to  open  secret  nego- 
tiations with  Carranza  the  moment  war  with  us  is  certain,  and  to  get  Carranza  to  draw 
in  Japan. 

Germany  has  attempted  to  apologize  for  this  note  by  saying  that  it  did  not  intend 
to  do  anything  unless  we  first  declared  war.  It  is  a  complete  retort  that  decent  nations 
do  not  go  around  preparing  schemes  for  the  dismemberment  of  other  nations  witli 
which  they  are  at  peace,  and  that  Zimmermann 's  whole  proposal  sprang  out  of  an  evil 
conscience,  because  he  realized  that  the  submarine  policy  projected  was  so  vile  that 
the  United  States  could  not  submit  to  it  mthout  utter  loss  of  self-respect,  and  he  did 
us  the  justice  of  believing  we  were  not  such  extreme  cravens  as  to  refuse  to  fight. 

The  whole  dispatch  was  so  gross  a  revelation  of  international  immorality  that 
German-American  papers  immediately  denounced  it  as  a  forgery,  only  to  have  its 
genuineness  brazenly  acknowledged  and  defended  by  Berlin. 

We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile  purpose  because 
we  know  that  in  such  a  Government,  following  such  methods, 
we  can  never  have  a  friend;  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its 
organized  power,  always  lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we 
know  not  what  purpose,  there  can  be  no  assured  security  for 
the  democratic  Governments  of  the  world.^^  We  are  now 
about  to  accept  the  gage  of  battle  with  the  natural  foe  to 
liberty,  and  shall,  if  necessary,  spend  the  whole  force  of  the 
nation  to  check  and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its  power. 
We  are  glad  now  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false 
pretense  about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of 
the  world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German 
peoples  included;  for  the  rights  of  nations,  great  and  small, 
and  the  privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of 
life  and  of  obedience. 

33  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  although  nearly  all  the  nations  opposed  to  Germany 
concluded  the  so-called  "cooling  off"  arbitration  treaties  with  the  United  States, 
negotiated  by  Mr.  Bryan,  Germany,  although  indulging  in  certain  meaningless  talk 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND   FACTS   BEHIND    IT.  23 

about  "approving  of  the  principle"  of  arbitration,  etc.,  declined  to  join  in  the  com- 
pacts. 

There  was  no  arbitration  treaty  that  could  be  invoked  when  trouble  arose  with 
Germany. 

On  March  30,  1911,  the  German  imperial  chancellor  had  stated  openly  in  the 
Eeichstag  that  no  general  arbitration  treaty  would  be  useful  for  Germany,  since  it 
afforded  no  guarantee  for  a  permanent  peace.  If  conditions  changed,  from  the  time 
it  was  made,  he  said,  then,  "every  arbitration  treaty  will  burn  like  tinder  and  end  in 
smoke."     (Quoted  in  Bernhardi,  Germany  and  the  Next  War,  p.  33.) 

The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy.  Its  peace 
must  be  planted  upon  the  tested  foundations  of  poUtical 
Uberty.  We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire  no 
conquests,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indemnities  for  our- 
selves, no  material  compensation  for  the  sacrifices  we  shall 
freely  make.  We  are  but  one  of  the  champions  of  the  rights 
of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied  when  those  rights  have 
been  made  as  secure  as  the  faith  and  the  freedom  of  nations 
can  make  them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancor  and  without  selfish 
object,  seeking  nothing  for  ourselves  but  what  we  shall 
wish  to  share  with  all  free  people,  we  shall,  I  feel  confident, 
conduct  our  operations  as  belligerents  without  passion  and 
ourselves  observe  with  proud  punctilio  the  principles  of 
right  and  of  fair  play  we  profess  to  be  fighting  for, 


34 


34  "Fair  play"  has  small  part  in  the  Prussian  military  usage,  however.  (See  Ger- 
man War  Code,  authorized  translation,  pp.  1-3  and  52.)     J.  Murray,  London,  1915. 

"A  war  conducted  with  energy  can  not  be  directed  merely  against  the  combatants 
of  the  enemy  State  and  the  positions  they  occupy,  but  will  and  must  in  like  manner 
seek  to  destroy  the  total  intellectual  and  material  resources  of  the  latter.  Humani- 
tarian claims,  such  as  the  protection  of  men  and  their  goods,  can  only  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  so  far  as  the  nature  and  object  of  the  war  permit." 

See  also  Clausewitz  (the  Prussian  military  authority  and  oft-quoted  oracle).  Treatise 
"On  War"  (Vom  Kriege)  V:  Kap.  14  (3). 

Speaking  of  the  desirability  of  crushing  down  an  hostile  country  by  requisitions, 
etc.,  he  commends  it  because  of  ' '  the  fear  of  responsibility,  punishment,  and  ill- 
treatment,  which  in  such  cases  presses  on  the  whole  population  like  a  general  weight." 
This  course  (of  requisitions)  has  "no  limits  except  those  of  the  exhaustion,  impover- 
ishment, and  devastation  of  the  country. ' ' 

By  this  Prussian  gospel,  not  merely  is  war  inevitably  "hell,"  but  it  is  to  be  made 
deliberately  the  lowest  stratum  of  hell,  and  the  means  of  rendering  it  such  are  to  be 
worked  out  with  scientific  precision, 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  Governments  allied  with  the 
Imperial  Government  of  Germany  because  they  have  not 
made  war  upon  us  or  challenged  us  to  defend  our  right  and 
our   honor.     The   Austro-Hungarian    Government   has,    indeed. 


24  THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS   BEHIND    IT. 

avowed  its  unqualified  indorsement  and  acceptance  of  the 
reckless  and  lawless  submarine  warfare/^  adopted  now 
without  disguise  by  the  Imperial  German  Government,  and 
it  has  therefore  not  been  possible  for  this  Government  to 
receive  Count  Tarnowski,  the  ambassador  recently  accred- 
ited to  this  Government  by  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Govern- 
ment of  Austria-Hungary;  but  that  Government  has  not 
actually  engaged  in  warfare  against  citizens  of  the  United 
States  on  the  seas,  and  I  take  the  liberty,  for  the  present  at 
least,  of  postponing  a  discussion  of  our  relations  with  the 
authorities  at  Vienna.  We  enter  this  war  only  where  we 
are  clearly  forced  into  it  because  there  are  no  other  means 
of  defending  our  rights. 

35  Austria  had  a  serious  clash  with  the  United  States  in  the  Ancona  case  late  in 
1915,  when  Americans  perished,  thanks  to  the  ruthless  action  of  an  Austrian  submarine. 
In  reply  to  American  protests  Austria  promised  to  order  her  commanders  to  behave 
with  humanity,  and  (compared,  at  least,  to  her  German  allies)  she  kept  her  word 
with  reasonable  exactness. 

On  April  8,  however,  Austria,  probably  acting  under  German  pressure,  broke  off 
diplomatic  relations  with  the  United  States  without  waiting  for  action  by  our  Govern- 
ment, and  the  same  was  done  a  little  later  by  Germany's  other  obedient  vassal,  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  ourselves  as 
belligerents  in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and  fairness  because  we 
act  without  animus,  not  with  enmity  toward  a  people  or 
with  the  desire  to  bring  any  injury  or  disadvantage  upon 
them,  but  only  in  armed  opposition  to  an  irresponsible 
Government  which  has  thrown  aside  all  considerations  of 
humanity  and  of  right  and  is  running  amuck. 

"We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends  of  the 
German  people  ^°  and  shall  desire  nothing  so  much  as  the 
early  reestablishment  of  intimate  relations  of  mutual 
advantage  between  us,  however  hard  it  may  be  for  them 
for  the  time  being  to  believe  that  this  is  spoken  from  our 
hearts.  We  have  borne  with  their  present  Government 
through  all  these  bitter  months  because  of  that  friendship, 
exercising  a  patience  and  forbearance  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  impossible.' 


37 


3G  There  are  now  two  Germanics — the  old,  noble,  idealistic  Germany ;  the  new, 
hard,  materialistic  nation,  created  by  Prussia.  Americans  would  fain  love  and 
recall  the  former. 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS    BEHIND   IT.  25 

Here  is  what  two  of  their  own  writers  said,  men  of  leadership  and  insight,  speaking 
very  shortly  betore  the  war: 

Prof.  Kein,  of  Jena:  "A  one-sideduess  which  only  esteems  material  values  and  an 
increasing  control  over  nature  is  destructive  in  its  influence,  and  this  one-sidedness 
set  in  during  the  nineteenth  century  in  Cioriiutny.  We  Germans  have  ceased  to  be 
the  nation  of  thinkers,  poets,  and  dreamers,  we  aim  now  only  at  the  domination 
and  exphjitatioii  of  nature." 

And  again  J'rof.  Paulsen,  of  Berlin:  "Two  souls  dwell  in  the  German  Nation.  The 
German  Nation  has  been  called  the  nation  of  poets  and  thinkers,  and  it  may  be  proud 
of  the  name.  To-day  it  may  again  be  called  the  nation  of  masterful  combatants,  as 
which  it  originally  aj)i)eared  in  history." 

37  No  one  can  accuse  Mr.  Wilson  of  the  least  precipitancy  in  bringing  matters  to 
an  issue.  Of  course,  on  the  contrary,  his  persistent  attempts  to  bring  the  German 
Government  to  recognize  the  claims  of  reason  and  humanity  have  caused  him  to  be 
bitterly  criticized.  Despite  this  criticism  he  has  patiently  and  steadily  held  to  the 
policy  announced  a  year  ago,  ' '  to  wait  until  facts  became  unmistakable  and  were 
susceptible  of  only  one  interpretation."     (Sussex  note,  April  18,  191G.) 

Here  is  a  partial  list  of  the  stages  in  the  U-boat  campaign : 

1.  December  24,  1914.  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  throws  out  hints  in  a  newspaper  inter- 
view of  a  wholesale  torpedoing  policy.  He  directly  asks,  "What  will  America  say?" 
This  was  considerably  before  the  so-called  English  blockade  was  causing  Germany 
any  serious  food  problem. 

2.  February  4,  1915.  German  Government  proclaims  a  war  zone  within  which 
any  ship  may  be  sunk  unwarned. 

3.  February  10,  1915.  Mr.  Wilson  tells  German  Government  it  will  be  held  to 
"strict  accountability"  if  any  American  rights  are  violated  in  this  way. 

4.  May  1  (dated  April  22),  1915.  German  Embassy  publishes  in  New  York  morning 
papers  warning  against  taking  passage  on  shijjs  which  our  Government  had  told  the 
people  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  take. 

The  Lusitania  sailed  at  12.20  noon,  May  1. 

5.  May  7,  1915.    Sinking  of  Lusitanki. 

6.  May  13,  1915.     Mr.  Wilson's  "first  Lusitania^'  note. 

7.  May  28,  1915.     Germany's  reply  defending  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania. 

8.  June  9,  1915.    Mr.  Wilson's  "second  Lusitania"  note. 

9.  July  21,  1915.  Mr.  Wilson's  "third  Lusitania"  note  (following  more  unsatis- 
factory German  rejoinders). 

10.  August  19,  1915.  Sinking  of  the  Arahic,  whereupon  Von  Bernstorff  gave  an  oral 
pledge  for  his  Government  that  hereafter  German  submarines  would  not  sink  ' '  liners ' ' 
without  warning. 

11.  February,  1916.  (After  still  more  debatable  sinkings)  Germany  makes  pro- 
posals looking  toward  "assuming  liability"  for  the  Lusitani^i  victims,  but  the  whole 
case  is  soon  complicated  again  by  the  ' '  armed  ship ' '  issue. 

12.  March  24,  1916.  Sinking  of  the  Sussex,  passenger  vessel  with  Americans  on 
board. 

13.  April  10,  1916.  Germany  cynically  tells  United  States  she  can  not  be  sure 
whether  she  sunk  the  Sussex  or  not,  although  admitting  one  of  her  submarines  was 
active  close  to  the  place  of  disaster. 

14.  April  18,  1916.  President  Wilson  threatens  Germany  with  breach  of  diplomatic 
relations  if  Sussex  and  similar  incidents  are  repeated. 

15.  May  4,  U)ld6.  Germany  grudgingly  makes  the  promise  that  ships  will  not  be 
sunk  without  warning. 

16.  October  8,  1916.  German  submarine  appears  oflP  .\merican  coast  and  sinks 
British  passenger  steamer  Stephana  with  many  American  passengers  (vacationists 
returning  from  Newfoundland)  on  board.  Loss  of  life  almost  certain  had  not  Ameri- 
can men-of-war  been  on  hand  to  pick  up  the  refugees. 


26  THE    WAE    MESSAGE    AND    FACTS   BEHIND    IT. 

t 

[From  this  time  until  final  break  several  other  vessels  sunk  under  circumstances 
which  made  it  at  least  doubtful  whether  Germany  was  living  up  to  her  pledges.] 

17.  January  31,  1917.  Germany  tears  up  her  promises  and  notifies  Mr.  Wilson  she 
will  begin  ' '  unrestricted  submarine  war. " ' 

18.  February  3,  1917.  Mr.  Wilson  gives  Count  Bernstorff  his  passports  and  recalls 
Ambassador  Gerard  irom  Berlin. 

In  all  modern  history  it  may  be  doubted  if  there  is  another  chapter  displaying  such 
prolonged  patience,  forbearance,  and  conciliatoriness  as  that  shown  by  Mr.  Wilson  and 
Mr.  Lansing  in  the  lace  of  a  long  course  of  deliberate  evasion  and  prevarication  to  them 
personally,  as  well  as  outrage  after  outrage  upon  the  property,  and  still  more,  upon 
the  lives  of  very  many  American  citizens 

We  shall  happily  still  have  an  opportunity  to  prove  that 
friendship  in  our  daily  attitude  and  actions  toward  the 
millions  of  men  and  women  of  German  birth  ^*  and  native 
sympathy  who  live  among  us  and  share  our  life,  and  we 
shall  be  proud  to  prove  toward  all  who  are  in  fact  loyal 
to  their  neighbors  and  to  the  Government  in  the  hour  of 
test.  They  are  most  of  them  as  true  and  loyal  Americans 
as  if  they  had  never  known  any  other  fealty  or  allegiance. 
They  will  be  prompt  to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and 
restraining  the  few  who  may  be  of  a  different  mind  and 
purpose.  If  there  should  be  disloyalty,  it  will  be  dealt 
with  with  a  firm  hand  of  stern  repression ;  ^^  but  if  it  lifts 
its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift  it  only  here  and  there  and  without 
countenance  except  from  a  lawless  and  malignant  few. 

38  On  April  16,  1917,  President  Wilson  issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  asserted 
that  ' '  alien  enemies ' '  who  preserved  the  peace,  kept  the  laws,  and  gave  no  aid  to 
the  enemies  of  the  United  States  * '  shall  be  undisturbed  in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of 
their  lives  and  occupations,  and  shall  be  accorded  the  consideration  due  to  all  peaceful 
and  law-abiding  persons,  and  toward  such  [persons]  all  citizens  of  the  United  States 
are  enjoined  to  preserve  the  peace  and  to  treat  them  with  all  such  friendliness  as 
may  be  compatible  with  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  the  United  States. ' ' 

In  May  the  Attorney  General  issued  a  statement  congratulating  the  country  on 
the  friendly  relations  between  Americans  and  German  residents,  the  absence  of  dis- 
orders, and  the  necessity  of  interning  only  a  very  small  number  of  persons  (about 
125),  an  insignificant  fraction  of  the  whole  number  of  German  citizens  in  this  country. 

At  almost  the  same  time  the  cables  carried  dispatches  that  the  German  police  had 
ordered  strict  measures  of  oversight  and  restraint  for  the  few  Americans  remaining 
in  Germany,  although  all  such  persons  were  probably  people  whose  ties  with  Ger- 
many made  them  almost  more  at  home  there  than  in  their  nominal  country. 

30  The  treason  statutes  of  the  United  States  have  seldom  been  invoked,  but  they 
exist  and  postsess  teeth. 

It  is  treason  to  "levy  war  against  the  United  States,  adhere  to  their  enemies,  or 
give  them  aid  or  comfort."  (Ch.  1,  sec.  1,  Rev.  Stat.)  The  penalty  is  death,  or 
imprisonment  for  at  least  five  years,  and  a  fine  of  at  least  $10,000. 


ijU- >..... .%....r. 


THE    WAR    MESSAGE    AND   FACTS    BEHIND    IT.  27 

It  is  "misprision  of  treason"  to  know  of  any  treasonable  plots  or  doings  and  fail  to 
report  the  same  to  the  authorities.  The  penalty  is  seven  years'  imprisonment.  The 
penalty  for  inciting  a  rebellion  or  insurrection  is  10  years,  and  the  crime  of  entering 
into  any  correspondence  With  a  foreign  government  to  influence  it  in  any  dispute 
with  the  United  States,  or  to  defeat  any  measures  taken  by  our  Government,  calls  for 
three  years'  imprisonment.  (Ch.  1,  sec.  5.)  There  is  also  a  penalty  of  six  years' 
imprisonment  for  any  seditious  conspiracy  to  oppose  the  authority  of  the  United 
States. 

All  these  laws  President  Wilson  has,  by  recent  proclamation  (Apr.  6,  1917),  re- 
minded the  people  are  in  full  force. 

"Giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States"  has  been  defined  in 
the  courts  (30  Federal  Cases,  No.  18272),  as— 

"In  general,  any  act  clearly  indicating  a  want  of  loyalty  to  the  Government  and 
sym/pathy  with  its  enemies,  and  which  by  fair  construction  is  directly  in  furtherance 
of  their  hostile  designs. ' '    Such  deeds  are,  of  course,  liable  to  all  the  penalty  of  treason. 

In  extreme  cases  also,  of  "rebellion  and  invasion"  the  Constitution  specifically 
gives  the  Government  power  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  (Constitution,  Art.  I, 
sec.  9,  par.  2)  ;  in  other  words,  to  arrest  and  imprison  on  mere  suspicion  without  trial, 
and  this  was  actually  done  in  the  Civil  War. 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  gentlemen  of  tlie 
Congress,  which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing:  you. 
There  are,  it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacrifice 
ahead  of  us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful 
people  into  war,  into  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all 
wars,  civilization  itself  seeming  to  be  in  the  balance. 

But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and  we  shall 
fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always  carried  nearest 
our  hearts  ^'^ — for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those  who 
submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  Govern- 
ments, for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small  nations,  for  a 
universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of  free  people 
as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations  and  make  the 
world  itself  at  last  free. 

40  Abraham  Lincoln  (second  inaugural  address,  1865): 

"With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  ^^'ith  firmness  in  the  right  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  finish  the  work  we  are  in — to  bind  up  one  another's 
wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and 
orphans;  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  ajnong 
ourselves  and  with  all  nations. ' ' 

Friedrich  von  Bernhardi  (German  lieutenant  general,  and  acceptable  mouthpiece, 
not  of  the  whole  German  nation,  but  of  the  Prussian  military  caste  v.hi'h  holds  the 
German  nation  in  its  grip)  : 

"Might  is -at  once  the  supreme  right,  and  the  dispute  as  to  what  is  ripht  is  decided 
by  the  arbitrament  of  war"  (p.  23.) 

The  idea  is  presumptuous  that  "the  weaik  nation  is  to  have  the  same  right  to  live 
as  a  powerful  and  vigorous  nation"  (p.  34). 


28  THE    WAR    MESSAGE   AND    FACTS    BEHIND   IT. 

' '  The  inevitableness,  the  idealism,  and  the  blessedness  of  war  as  the  indispensable 
and  stinmlating  law  of  development  must  be  repeatedly  emphasized"  (p.  37). 

' '  Our  people  must  learn  to  feel  that  the  maintenance  of  peace  never  can  or  may  be 
the  goal  of  a  policy"  (p.  37,  "Germany  and  the  Next  War"). 

Which  of  these  two  national  viewpoints  is  to  be  allowed  to  dominate  the  world? 

To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  for- 
tunes, everything  that  we  are  and  everything  that  we  have 
with  the  pride  of  those  who  know  that  the  day  has  come 
when  America  is  privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and  her 
might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her  birth  and  happiness 
and   the   peace   which   she   has  treasured. 

God  helping  lier,  she  can  do  no  other. 


A  COMPACT  SUMMARY  OF  THE  GRIEVANCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

AND  THE  NECESSITY  OF  WAR. 

Indictment  of  German  policy  by  ]\Ir.  G.  E.  Foss,  of  Illinois,  a 
Member  of  Congress  (debate  in  House  of  Representatives,  Apr.  6, 
1917)  : 

"As  a  reward  for  our  neutrality  what  have  we  received  at  the 
hands  of  William  II? 

"He  has  set  the  torch  of  the  incendiary  to  our  factories,  our  work- 
shops, our  ships,  and  our  wharves. 

"He  has  laid  the  bomb  of  the  assassin  in  our  munition  plants  and 
the  holds  of  our  ships. 

"He  has  sought  to  corrupt  our  manhood  with  a  selfish  dream  of 
peace  when  there  is  no  peace. 

"He  has  willfully  butchered  our  citizens  on  the  high  seas. 

**He  has  destroyed  our  commerce. 

"He  seeks  to  terrorize  us  with  his  devilish  policy  of  f rightfulness. 

"He  has  violated  every  canon  of  international  decency  and  set  at 
naught  every  solemn  treaty  and  every  precept  of  international  law. 

"He  has  plunged  the  world  into  the  maddest  orgy  of  blood,  rapine, 
and  murder  which  history  records. 

"He  has  intrigued  against  our  peace  at  home  and  abroad. 

"He  seeks  to  destroy  our  civilization.  Patience  is  no  longer  a 
virtue,  further  endurance  is  cowardice,  submission  to  Prussian 
demands  is  slavery." 


^139 


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